Frequent Flyer Miles

Since I fly free on stand-by I can sometimes get myself to some pretty awesome events. I especially love it when an awesome event out of town happens to be taking place while I've already planned to be there.

So goes this weekend adventure...

We have been planning a trip to Disneyland to meet up with some of our family that lives in Southern California as a fun way to kick off the holidays. We opted for going to the Disney Parks Friday & Saturday leaving Sunday the 5th open to hang out and get ourselves home.

Last week I saw a post from Zenyatta (yea, we're "friends") saying that there was going to be a farewell event for her at Hollywood Park on the 5th...PERFECT! Les quickly agreed and changed our departing city to LAX!

I used to work at LAX and had to pass the park many times on my way to the DMV and it always struck me that here was this racing icon in the middle of a neighborhood (Inglewood) that probably cared very little for the happenings within it's fences or that some amazing horses resided there. What a shame...

The track is old and not what I would call pretty. I have to say, I am a bit spoiled by the Emerald Downs track. Not only is is clean and pretty, but it's enjoyable. They try hard to make themselves a destination for fun (without a casino I might add!) and perhaps it's got something to do with the age difference but I just found the track to be ....well....old! nothing special, not even anything really update as far as I could see. Even the paddock was dirt. Certainly not Churchill Downs or Emerald Downs....and NOT my favorite....Keeneland!

So we got to the track and took a look around and found ourselves in almost a ghost-land as I made my way all the way up to the rail....an odd perspective actually, the actual track is practically at eye level.


The first race we got to see was Race #3 and the winner was #1 - Free Pourin, trained by Bob Baffert. Where we were standing we could see his distinctive white hair and sunglasses in the winner's circle and then started the clapping as they announced the milestone that Mr. Baffert had just hit a significant milestone with his 2,000th Win! Wow!! that was unexpected.


We watched another race but I decided to go and take my place at the Paddock to wait the two races until they brought out Zenyatta...because SHE was the whole reason for my visit that day...and I was not alone!!

There was Zenyatta memorabilia to be had at a tent beside the paddock. For $15 I could have had a Zenyatta giclee or a beer stein. I don't know what's up with me and beer steins and although I didn't get one, I did contemplate it briefly & I don't even drink beer!

A couple of organizations that work with post-racing Thoroughbreds were also in attendance:

Training Thoroughbreds Off The Track (TROTT) was there selling tshirts and talking about racehorse retraining and adoption as well as The Second Race who was holding a raffle for a framed print of Zenyatta....both there to raise awareness and possibly funds to help other ex-race horses in the LA area. I don't know much about either organization and I always caution anyone to please check out any organization before you donate but wanting to help Thoroughbreds is something I feel very close to heart (ya know...those TB shaped hoof prints across mine!)

Mike Smith, Zenyatta's primary jockey, was also on hand to sign autographs but I knew I would not have a chance behind the 300+ folks already in line vs the 30 minutes he had between a couple of races so I didn't even try but he did pass by me on his way to the autograph station...


...and finally the moment we all crowded the rail for...

Her groom, Mario Espinoza, brought Zenyatta into the paddock and walked her around several times so that we could all get a good look at her.





She was spectacular...we didn't get a lot of her "dance" but you can see that she did give us a tiny little hint of it.

Mario then took her up to the track and walked her back and forth out there as well. I could hear the roar of the crowd as I made my way back over to the area above the winner's circle. They they had a bit of fan-fare and celebration...calling her the Best Racing Mare EVER!!!

The fans were there in force! Les says he talked to someone who said that the track usually isn't this busy...this is all for Zenyatta. I even saw a grown man with tears in his eyes. I do believe that for most of us there, we felt like we'd seen a rare glimpse of greatness. Zenyatta does that to people.


Even the guys in the TVG announcer booth were impressed

After she left the track, I didn't see much point in staying so Les & I watched one more race and headed to the airport for our trip back to Seattle. I am extremely honored to have been able to attend her send-off. As it turns out they wasted no time in getting her on her way to her next job as "a Mom", as the track announcer said...this evening I saw a post that Zenyatta has safely arrived in Kentucky. I do believe she gets around almost as much as I do but I suspect she'll be settling down a bit now that motherhood is in her future.

Now the question becomes "Who's going to be her first mate?" I have my sentimental favorites but I think I'll let John my farrier weigh in on that conversation here soon. I am most interested in what he thinks as he's very much into conformation & has a great eye....does anyone else have ideas?

Zenyatta

My favorite band ever is/was The Police! Even though there are those who are probably convinced that it's Jimmy Buffett... no, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers & Sting had me collecting records somewhat earlier than my semi-obsession with Buffett began. My young adult years spent hanging out in Ocean Beach with my surfer boyfriend were lived to the soundtrack provided by the reggae/punk-ish/jazz sounds of Outlandos d'Amour, Regatta de Blanc & Zenyatta Mondatta. When it was announced that the band was breaking up because Sting wanted to pursue a solo career, I was heartbroken & boycotted his music until Ten Sumner's Tales was released years later. I'm just that loyal (stubborn?) but eventually I could no longer ignore that even his solo music is great...today, he's forgiven and I LOVE his music. If you ride to music, I swear, Sting/Police music is amazing. The tempos are lively & consistent, the beats are strong & enjoyable. I can no longer listen to one without mentally riding it.

So when a horse by the name of Zenyatta hit the racing scene everything in me knew there had to be a connection. To the best of my knowledge "zenyatta" wasn't even a real word. I later discovered that Zenyatta's owner, music promoter Jerry Moss, is friends with Sting and named the filly after the album Zenyatta Mondatta. See, I knew it!!

Reportedly, there is a Mondatta who never made it to the track. We might have to look into that!

Zenyatta was purchased at the Keeneland Sale but did not race as a two year old. In an interview on 60 Minutes her trainer, John Shirreffs, was asked why they didn't run her in the Derby and his reply was that she simply was not mature enough yet....

That is a statement that could be worth Zenyatta's weight in gold!

Seriously, I'd like to post it in every racing barn and at every track in the United States. This is the biggest source of contention between racing and rescue: that young horses are put on to the track well before they are physically mature and too often this results in injuries to their immature legs. The horse is used up and tossed aside for the next best prospect before it ever had a chance to prove how truly athletic it could have been. Now I hope that my racing friends know that I am not pointing fingers at them as I could only be associated with folks who I feel do try to do the right thing by their horses. It's that delicate line I dance between my life-long love of racing and the passion I feel for horse rescue.

Many in the equine community ask why is it that in every other equine sport we hold off til after 3 years to start a horse consistently and even longer before developing a horse for a more demanding discipline, yet racing starts them at two...which are sometimes a bit less than two due to the January 1st "official" age date. I totally get that the younger horse is going to have more energy...boy do I ever get that from a human aspect these days, but I have always wondered what it would hurt to let the horses wait just a year longer... let those joints fill in, let the horse's skeleton finish getting to where it's going. THEN let's see what kind of magic can happen on the track.

Look what happened with a little more time to develop...

In both this 60 minutes piece and a fascinating article in Sports Illustrated, Shirreffs talks about how beautifully she matured in that extra year she had off.

"Her legs weren't ready to take care of that body," says Shirreffs. "...if you compromise a horse when she's young, you'll never see her full talents." according to the Sports Illustrated article.

They go on further to discribe her better than I've ever seen...

"Now they have not just any horse, but a transcendent one. "She has a deep heart girth," says Shirreffs, "which indicates plenty of room for lung in her rib cage. But her chest isn't broad, which would inhibit her stride by putting her forelegs farther apart. Behind, she's very strong, when often a horse of her [height] would be narrow in back. The combination, her front and her back, it's amazing. And her heart, who knows how big her heart is. Whatever it is physically, it's huge metaphysically." Zenyatta is also uncommonly sweet at rest; Shirreffs allows fans to visit her almost without restriction."

The Zen-Mistress now has a perfect record: 19 wins in 19 races.

Today is #20 and reportedly her last...her retirement race... I assume she'll go on to be a broodmare and hopefully pass on her good genes to her offspring. Monica, Maeve & I were just talking about the X-Factor that says that the strongest genes come through the X chromosome (the female) and now I am fascinated at the possibilities of this amazing mare going on to produce more of her own kind. This is one of those rare instances where I do have to support the idea of breeding her. I think she's worth repeating...or at least trying to, right? She won't be producing 100's more, just a select few...and who will the studs be? I can't think of anyone worthy of her at this point but I'm sure her team, who seems to love her very much, will make the best choices possible. They can certainly afford to be very selective! Shoot, I think if I had a top stud, I'd almost PAY to have Zenyatta carry one of his foals!!!

Back in May I went out to the California Equine Retirement Foundation (CERF) and met founder, Grace Belcuore. She's also a big Zenyatta fan and shared with me her story about meeting Zenyatta. Grace asked if she could hug Zenyatta and they said "sure". As she wrapped her arms around Zenyatta's chest, She bent down and hugged Grace back with her head. I later hugged Grace to get my second generation Zenyatta hug...ok, mostly it was because I was so in awe of the work Grace does to care for Off-the-track Thoroughbreds but the arms that hugged Zenyatta have hugged me ...and that's a pretty cool bonus!








So I'm sitting here in a hotel room in Miami after a long day of traveling to get to Florida for a cruise we're about to take. There have been many discussions about trying to do a lay-over in Louisville on the way but the flights were just not working out otherwise Les & I would have been all over this Breeders Cup. I think we both know this is a very special one, in deed. But because we fly standby, we sometimes don't even get our second choice of flights and were bumped from a flight Thursday night which would have gotten us into Miami at 7am Friday Morning. Our perfect plan (based on not being able to go to Louisville) was to drive down to Key West on Friday and spend the day/evening with a large number of our friends who are down there for Meeting of the Minds, a Parrot Head convention of sorts (back to Buffett!) and then come back up Saturday to catch live racing at Calder so we could make sure to see the Breeders Cup Sprint with our local hero, Atta Boy Roy (or as we renamed him Derby Day, Atta Good Boy Roy) & the beautiful Zenyatta in the Breeders Cup Classic. When Friday Fun was scrubbed because we had to fly to Orlando and drive to Miami, I assumed he'd want to drive to Key West today instead, but I am very proud to say that he didn't even consider it. He's the one who said, "It's too bad, but no Key West this time!" HE wants to go to the track as much as I do!

On the 5 hour plane ride I tried to amuse myself by doing crosswords puzzles, but when the puzzle asks for an 8-letter word...I thought "Zenyatta" and I would drift off thinking about the race and this incredible horse...so I induldged myself a little bit and thought of words that belong with her...



My friend Kathleen is there RIGHT NOW (ok, maybe she's sleeping "right now") but if she's anything like me she's laying there imagining Zenyatta on the track in all of her glory with her garland, trophy and the clicks of a gazillion camera's going off...I'll text her in the morning in an effort to sneak into her moment just a second or two...and there will be phone calls & all of the excitement amongst my friends who want this win for her with our huge collective heart.

So Zenyatta, show 'em how to run like a girl...a great big beautiful, strong, amazing girl!!! (I think I may have borrowed that from Bonnie...if not, it sounds like something she'd say!)

I love a line I read recently that you've never gone anywhere but to the winners circle after you run the track...so I wish you one last happy trip there and that in the months to come you understand that it's a wonderful gift that you've been retired to be a horse. I hope you always feel loved. No matter the outcome, you're one of a kind and you inspire us.

...and above all else....have a safe trip around Churchill Downs....see you in the winner's circle!

Girl Power!

Go Zenyatta Go!!

Edit update: 11/16/10

This all took place just before I left on a cruise through the Caribbean and I didn't have (much) Internet access but I did want to update that Les & I went to Calder Race Track and watched the Breeders Cup races from there on Saturday. Bonnie & I were texting each other and we did get an ESPN feed so we did get to *see* the coverage but didn't get to *hear* the non-track coverage.

Needless to say I was heartbroken about the way the day started: in the Juvenile Turf, Rough Sailing broke down around the first turn and was euthanized after sustaining a fracture of the humerus bone in his right forelimb & then our Home-Boy Atta Boy Roy had to be hauled off the track and off the heels of the Rough Sailing loss, we were very concerned for the Washington Home-town Hero. It, according to the Seattle PI, "... was initially diagnosed as a suspensory injury in his right foreleg. However, chief Breeders’ Cup veterinarian Wayne McIllwraith said Atta Boy Roy was in no apparent danger.

“Calvin Borel noticed a bit of sensitivity in the right forelimb and jumped off the horse," McIlwraith said. "He has a mild injury to a medial branch suspensory ligament. It is certainly not life-threatening, and probably not career-threatening.”

All of this made for an even more stressful Breeders Cup Classic race, praying that Zenyatta would make a safe trip no matter the outcome. I was a bundle of nerves, especially after it looked like she might have had a bad start and seemed to be running "off" but then she settled in....far behind the pack...and made her move toward the end. Her Jockey, Mike Smith, placed her up in the pack and had to work her way out so that she could come on the outside to run for the wire. In the end it was probably the manuvering that cost her but she lost the race to "Blame" by mere inches. She gave it an amazing GO at the end and she probably really only needed a stride or two more to have won but she did it in amazing style. Mike Smith later accepted the blame for her loss but said she ranked up there with the best horses of all-time.

One of Bonnie's last texts was "she probably doesn't even know she lost"...the replay shows she kept running hard, well past the finish line & later Bonnie posted on Facebook:

Best post-race comment: "She probably went back to her barn thinking that this track just didn't hand out flowers."

Thanks for all the blog filler Bonnie!!

Super (Horse) Saver

My friend, Maeve and I talk about what we’d do if we won the lottery or hit it big at the track. Generally it’s a given that we’d pay bills and buy a farm. But what happens when you hit it’s ‘a little’ big at the track?

The first thing that came to mind was that I would get the horses’ teeth done & finally get that hitch on my truck. Then there was a list of bills I could pay and various other things that I probably should do with the money. We spent a little in Kentucky but brought most of it home with us to Washington, still toying with what to do with it…

We walked in the door about 6:30pm on Tuesday & started to haul my luggage upstairs. There was a note on my computer from my son, Corey, telling me he’d emailed me the location of my truck & key so I logged in and looked for his email. What caught my attention first was one from Facebook saying that I’d received a note from Liz titled “SWAG”, “… thought you might want to know” with a link to the auction board thread about a “Bay Thoroughbred - $450”.

I read through and it seems that a horse had been discovered at Enumclaw Pavilion in the kill buyer’s area. He was reported to be a nice looking, tall bay with aluminum racing shoes on & a swollen ankle. They had ID’d his tattoo with the Jockey Club data base and discovered he was Bucky B Lucky, a horse that once belonged to SWAG Stables.

I didn’t take a long time to think about it, I just picked up my phone and called Keith Swagerty, my friend who owns SWAG Stables. He happened to be at a Mariner game but commented on my Derby trip and my head was thinking “yeah, yeah, Derby…. I can’t think about that right now…we have a problem” so instead, I asked him if he knew what happened to Bucky B Lucky and he confirmed that they had not owned him for about a year. He’d been claimed in a race last spring.

I let Keith know that Bucky was at the Auction yard. Keith wanted to know if he’d gone through the auction and all my indications so far were that he had not been there for the auction on May 2^nd and the next auction was not until June 6^th. I told him about the gals who scout out the auction for horses and especially hone in on the Thoroughbreds because they’re easily identified because of the tattoo. Keith said he’d like to help get Bucky out of there and wanted to do so well before the next auction. We both agreed to collect information and get back in touch the following day.

I proceeded to contact the folks I knew would be involved in the rescue end of things and found out something horrifying…

I’ve known for some time that the meat buyers go to this auction, which is held on the first Sunday of each month and bid on horses for slaughter/foreign meat markets. It appears that they have a limit of about $200 a horse and these days have no problem bidding against a rescuer. The rescuer’s, many of whom gather on a message board called “auctionhorses” and discuss how to best address keeping horses from going to slaughter, attend the auction to try to prevent horses from being sold for slaughter. They go in prepared to collect information on as many horses as possible and track down information like Jockey Club tattoos and contact owners/trainers and other interested parties before the start of the auction in hopes of saving lives.

There are a few people who routinely bring in, what they consider, unwanted horses and practically make it hard for the horse to go anywhere BUT slaughter.

Lucky had not gone through the auction on Sunday, the 2nd and apparently had been dropped at the Sales Pavilion sometime late Monday. On Tuesday someone went to check on a horse that had been purchased on Sunday but had not been picked up and noticed this new TB without a hip number. He was ID'd by his tattoo: I35193 as Bucky B Lucky. At this point I do not know who that was but I'm very grateful they took note of the new guy.... thank you!!

By all appearances, who ever brought Lucky to Enumclaw meant for him to go away quietly. Because he was dropped after the sale, he would have never been offered to the public for sale and would have been sold to one of the meat buyers and loaded onto a truck (I've heard that would have been this past Thursday or this coming Monday). This is one of those rare instances when I can say that this horse would have been better off going through the auction with the hope of being purchased by someone who would give him a home. Instead he was pretty much rail-roaded directly to slaughter & the deeper I get into the story the more I am convinced that it was by design, not my accident. Someone almost certainly INTENDED for him to go to slaughter!!!

Right after I got off the phone with Keith I learned that Katie from Second Chance Ranch was also trying to figure out how to get him out of there so she and I started working together to get the information straight and get things in motion to get him paid for. Keith and I spoke again and agreed that I would go and pay for him. Katie would arrange for a ride and would make room for him at SCR.

I stopped at my house on the way to Enumclaw and found a birthday card with a check to cover 1/3 of the bail. I decided that I needed a pony for my birthday and officially, Lucky is out in a joint financial effort of Keith, my Dad and myself.

When I got to the auction, I was helped (using that term loosely) by a woman at the front desk who had no idea what horse I was talking about because he had no sale number and after much more grumbling than I cared to endure, eventually I bought the horse on a Bill of Sale that simply says "Thorobred $450" When I asked if they'd like to clarify that with any identifying marks or information...or if they had any paperwork, they simply said "NO". I was allowed to let myself into the auction yard, hook up the horse and Hana from the SAFE message board and I walked him down the street to her house.

The plan was that he was going to remain at her house until Saturday when he'd be picked up on Saturday.

We were able to locate the information about the current listed owner and trainer of Lucky and I called the owner, Jeff D. who was in the middle of golf tournament today but took the time to talk to me about this horse. I initially asked him if he had the registration papers (which he doesn't) and why he wasn't racing any longer.

He said he claimed the horse last year, ran him a few times and then he was diagnosed with bone chips on his front/left ankle. He was given time off but returned to training in January 2010. The reports were that he was doing well but recently had some swelling post-workout so it was concluded that he was done racing. Jeff indicated that he could still be used as a trail or pleasure horse but he just wasn't going to be racing any more. He told me that he'd tried to ask around his horse friends to see if anyone was willing to take him and no one was so he trusted his trainer, Roy Lumm to re-home the horse. From what I've heard, this is not the first horse from Roy Lumm to find itself on its way to slaughter.

When I told Jeff how I got Lucky, he was clearly upset and said that he never wanted the horse to go to slaughter. He thanked me several times for getting him out of there and is quite concerned about how he got there. He admitted that he doesn't know that much about horses but his daughter does and would have been absolutely crushed to learn that Lucky had gone to slaughter. He's asked me to keep him posted on the progress and anything we might find out about how Lucky ended up there...seemingly under covert intentions!

It's my understanding that Keith will be contacting the trainer to see what he has to say about all this but there is one clear observation here:

The best way to keep clear of the prying eyes of the rescuers is to not go to the auction at all. Dropping a horse the day after the sale pretty much seals the deal for the horse, as it is far too easy to quietly disappear using this method. I don't buy for one minute that this was a coincidence, I believe someone MEANT for Lucky to go to slaughter without even a fair chance. We've checked around and not one legitimate rescue was ever contacted to take this horse before he was dropped at Enumclaw.

What I also hate about this process is that Ron got to set whatever price he wanted and we had to pay it. I'd like to point out that this was not a case where I went to Ron or the Meat Buyer post-auction after I had a chance to buy him before...this horse never went to the auction. The public never had the chance to buy him and he was never going to auction & this is not an auction rescue...it was a done deal had someone not acted on his behalf otherwise, no one would have ever heard of Bucky B Lucky again. His last days would have been terrifying and by all indications, this once pampered racehorse met some angry and aggressive horses at the auction yard and had some pretty nasty bites and scrapes.

He had no fresh water and refused to drink out of the cement trough in the yard. He and the other horses were eating hay when I arrived but there seemed to be no effort to keep the horses safe or safe from each other.

When I walked up to the gate, I saw him eating hay. I called to him and he turned his eye and an ear to me. When I smiled and said “Bucky, come here…” he lifted his head and took a few steps toward me. I slipped inside the gate and he actually came all the way up to me. He allowed me to touch him and once I started petting his forehead and neck he started rubbing on me as if to indicate he was accepting me as an ally. It reminded me of the moment I met Coconut and how she came and placed her head in my chest as if to say “Please help me….” Bucky B Lucky had a very similar reaction.

Because I knew of this horse from watching him run at Emerald Downs and his former owners, I felt an obligation to help.

While initially Katie was going to make room for him at SCR, today Katie, Jaime and I decided that since there was an opening + considering my ongoing work with Save A Forgotten Equine (S.A.F.E.) that it would be a great option for him to be able to join the program.

There have been several folks who have helped in the process of getting him out of Enumclaw...

Katie at Second Chance Ranch has been a tremendous source of support during this process and I don't know how I could have navigated this insane course of action without her!

Hana from the S.A.F.E. message board gave him a place for a couple of nights and took very good care of him before we could get him hauled out.

Keith Swagerty stepped up for his former horse simply because he cared. There have been some reports that Keith was the breeder and I don't believe that to be the case. He once owned and raced the horse but he is not listed as the breeder. According to the Jockey Club, he was bred by Steve Meredith & Roy Dane

Here's Lucky's breeding:
His Sire is Kentucky Lucky by Seattle Slew
His Dam is Dixie Dew by Rolls Aly & Sister Slew (Slewledo.... Seattle Slew)

His stats: 18 starts, 3 wins, 4 places, 2 shows. Career winnings approximately $18k

VERY Respectable..in our minor league ranks, wouldn't you agree?

Tonite, my friend Kelli and I picked him up from Hana's (of around the corner from Encumclaw Auction fame) and drove him to SAFE. He actually got in the trailer with just a little hesitation. He appeared to be settling in well when we left.

So truly, I was able to help out financially with rescuing this horse because I still had in my wallet my winnings from the Derby. Les mentioned that it seemed natural that I would pick the name “Super Saver” as my Derby horse. At the time I thought it was nod to my mad bargain shopping skills…but perhaps he meant it as a tribute to my work saving horses!? Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby, which allowed me to help this horse…so a racehorse gave me the money to help another racehorse…which makes him a Super HORSE Saver!!!

A wining lottery ticket or a well-placed bet at the track would give me the ability to give him a home myself, but I think that his placement with S.A.F.E. is the next best thing to keeping him. I get to watch his progress closely and hopefully one day I’ll get to see him go to his wonderful new home.

Maeve and I still get to daydream about having enough money to fulfill our every wish…many of which include horses…

Things finally look peaceful for Lucky

ETA - December 2, 2010:
This turns out to be my single most popular post and gets hits almost daily so I'm going to update the story with the following....

Bucky B Lucky is the center of a front page story run in the Seattle Times on 11/9/2010


And just about a week later in the Monroe Monitor


He also has now completed his rehab and has had a test ride, see the details on his SAFE Message Board Thread by Jaime:

"I rode Lucky today for the first time. We would have been on him sooner but he was pretty sore on his feet until we finally put front shoes and pads on him, and then we couldn't seem to go a day without him pulling one of them. But we have them back on, plus bell boots, so hopefully they will stay now.

Lucky was super under saddle. Really, really nice horse. Great to saddle, not girthy, opened his mouth right up for the bit. Stood quietly while I mounted. Lunged, but tense on the lungeline and so I didn't do much lunging. Once I was on the most surprising discovery was that he was actually quite lazy. Not balky at all, he would go forward, but at a rather leisurely pace. He didn't really seem to understand how to move forward off the leg, but never felt unsafe or sulky about going forward. After getting tired of thumping him with my legs I picked up a jumping bat, which he also didn't care much about, but did inspire him to move a little more forward and we walked and trotted for 20 minutes or so both directions. He's green, but he steers fairly well and is very willing. He did not feel at all lame...but he needs to learn to relax into the contact and use his back a bit more before his stride will really open up and feel nice, right now it feels a bit short and stiff. But that's tension...not lameness.

After I rode him a bit one of our volunteers Katie (who is a beginner) got on him and walked him around for a while and he was just as calm and relaxed as he was for me. Really nice horse...hard to believe he was recently off the track, he was just so calm and laid back. I am really hopeful for him now - this is a nice horse who is sound enough for easy trail riding - and probably calm enough for a relative novice to ride safely as well."

..and lots more in the works for this awesome horse!

Off To The Races

My personal race season is in full swing & I feel like things are back to how they should be. Racing for me has been a lifelong love…

My birthday is at the end of April and I recall many birthday parties held on the weekend following my actual birth day that paused long enough to watch the Kentucky Derby, which is always held the first Saturday in May.

Some of my favorite memories have been at the track and it probably had to do with the fact that it was a place for me to watch horses. Majestic, powerful and fast! Thoroughbreds have always seemed like the elite athletes of the equine world and they invoke a certain respect from me. These are not typically the horses of my fantasies about galloping through grassy fields or frolicking in the waves at the beach. These are the untouchables…or at least that’s the way I grew up seeing them.

Last summer I had the opportunity to ride my very first Thoroughbred, Cedar County Queen, one of SAFE’s long time residents before she was adopted. She’s a tall horse and I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated. Allison assured me that this was an experience I needed to try at least once. We happened to be hosting the youth group of a local Morgan Horse group that day as they were performing a service day by helping SAFE. So not only did I have to overcome my apprehension about riding Cedar, but I had to do so with an audience, complete with one of their parents who happened to be a dressage trainer. I don’t consider myself a great rider or anything and I’ve managed to ride the wild Arabian (with help, I admit!) but I like to think I can ride a good horse and stay on. The thought of proving myself wrong, especially in front of some really good riders, was probably as intimidating as riding this big mare.

Allison had been Cedar’s primary rider while she was with SAFE so she gave me some pointers about how to make Cedar go. I mounted, got my pep talk from Allison and then gave her a leg to walk off. I apparently found the button to canter because she took off immediately in a slow controlled canter and I thought to myself, “Ok, so we’ll do this first!” She took me half way around the arena and then I got her to slow down. I tried hard not to show how insecure I felt about that first lap but I realized I was going to have to control this ride or trouble was going to be in front of me. The good news was that Cedar was actually very responsive, sensible but forward for the rest of the ride. It turned into an incredible ride and I was beaming. By the time I was done, I felt both triumphant and relieved. I’d conquered my apprehension and had a beautiful experience.

Cedar and I

Photo taken by Lynn Mazer

Later that fall a fellow boarder, Rachelle, allowed me to ride her Off The Track Thoroughbred, Cajun King who raced at Long Acres and had actually been a winner in his day. Knowing that he had a history of running fast kind of gave me a bit of hesitation and he was a very different ride from Cedar. I had the sense that you needed to hold him back, but Cedar has a gentleness about her that instilled a huge sense of calm.

I have a huge respect for Thoroughbreds and those who ride them. I still love the races but now I feel like I have a little hint of their inner minds. I’m no expert, by any means, but now I can say I’ve had to connect with them and I think about that when I see them race.

It was probably a year or more into my relationship with Les that I discovered he, too, had a love of horse racing. One of the few times I have been upset with him was when he asked me if I could make him a reservation for early May in Louisville…and I realized he was heading to the Kentucky Derby WITHOUT me, I could hardly think straight and it was a good three days before I felt like speaking to him again. He returned from that trip informing me that I would not have enjoyed his infield experience but I assured him that a grandstand seat would suit me just fine!

He was eventually forgiven and at some point we got engaged. When talk came to picking a wedding date, he surprised me with the fact that he’d secured Derby Tickets and wondered if I might want to go to that on our honeymoon. ARE YOU KIDDING!?!?!? Of course I would!!!! We planned our wedding to take place the week before the 2003 Derby and after a 3-day cruise in the Bahamas, we had a stop-over in Kentucky on the way back to Seattle for our first Derby together…in grandstand seats! This marks our sixth trip to the Derby and each one brings it’s own adventure.

Racing has truly become a big part of our lives. But even at home, we love racing. Emerald Downs has been a destination for us year after year. Last year I had the amazing good luck to discover that Jan Swagerty, who I met riding at Chrissy’s a few years ago, owned some horses with her husband, Keith, under the barn name of Swag Stables. In 2009 they broke the track record with an amazing 27 wins in a single season and made my year by giving me a standing invite to join them both in the paddock and winners circle any time they race. We’ve had the thrill many times.

No Flies On Doodle

Photo by Corey Reidy

This year we attended Opening Night at Emerald Downs and their proven mare, No Flies On Doodle, took us to the winner’s circle to start the meet off right! The following week we popped in for a quick visit and caught the VERY quick Forener as he went 3 for 3 in his first race of 2010. This is one amazing young horse and has the potential to be their super star. The success of Swag Stables is due to a lot of excellent training and, in my opinion, a good dose of good karma. These are really nice folks who love these horses like family. It might be the family feel or the team mentality that comes from Keith, a former basketball coach, that makes this program work but whatever it is, it’s practically magic... the kind of magic that comes from hard work and persistent planning.

In the Winner's Circle with Forener!

So my race year includes the trip that finds me up late in our hotel room waiting to discover how this one will unfold. Today’s Derby fun included meeting 2009 Derby winning trainer, Chip Woolley. I read last night that he was going to be at the Kentucky Derby Museum giving autographs at 10am but we didn’t get in until 11am, just as they were taking the table down. I was disappointed but noticed that he was still walking around the museum so I stalked him for about 15 minutes until I got a chance to approach him when he wasn’t completely busy talking to someone else. I asked if I could please take a photo with him and he smiled and agreed. As he came up, I reached forward and introduced myself to him “Jeannette Parrett, here from Seattle” to which he replied, “I’m Chip Woolley” and he put an arm around me and smiled while Les took the photo. That was so sweet, he was kind enough to introduce himself to me but I obviously knew who he was. The photo is great but I’ll have to post it when I get back because this laptop doesn’t seem to interact with the SD card very well.

We spent another hour at the track exploring areas we don’t normally get to see during the big event days so I got to experience Churchill Downs in a new way today. Afterward we drove over to a tack store I looked up online but it turned out to be a race supply store. The owner was there and talked to us and showed us his handmade exercise saddles, halters & headstalls. I got some really nice riding gloves and discovered a rack of used leather halters for $15. One of them was big enough for Basil (or small enough if you consider that most of them are made for Thoroughbreds). That was exciting!! It’s in great condition and a little racing souvenir from the track … for my horse!

The weather report says we’re going to have a really nice Oaks day but there’s going to be thunder storms and rain predicted for Derby day. I’ll hope for the best but I asked Corey to send along some of the poncho’s I’ve purchased in the past (and never had to use) as my own little good luck hoping that if I bring it the rain won’t come. My brother-in-law, Mike arrives with a friend tomorrow so he’s got our (hopefully) good luck rain ponchos. Sun dances and blue-sky spells are appreciated too…